By Howard Koplowitz
Despite not having a liquor license, a Floral Park restaurant has been serving alcohol and rowdy customers have been seen having sex on top of their cars at night, residents complained last week at the 105th Precinct Community Council meeting.
When one resident went to talk to the owner of the Shahi Darbar restaurant at 83-47 248th St. about the lewd behavior, he was pushed, they said.
“Some of the neighbors are being attacked on their streets by the establishment,” one resident said. “There’s going to be serious trouble there. I see that someone’s going to get hurt there.”
Bryan Block, chairman of Community Board 13, said the restaurant “is totally out of control.”
“There has to be zero tolerance,” he said.
Capt. Joseph Kearney, executive officer of the 105th Precinct, said the restaurant was “on our target.”
Another resident said she saw patrons bringing alcohol even though the establishment was unable to serve it.
“I saw them carrying the liquor bottles — they didn’t even hide them,” she said, noting the owner “has blatant disregard for everyone who lives on that block.”
She said the restaurant holds late-night parties Thursdays through Sundays.
Kearney confirmed Shahi Darbar does not have a liquor license.
“If they have any liquor in there, we can nuisance and abate them,” he said.
But a man who answered the phone at the restaurant said they do have the license and denied patrons were having sex on cars or that the owner got rough with the resident who complained.
“There’s none of those problems,” he said, noting Shahi Darbar has a security guard to ensure a situation does not get out of control.
Meanwhile, civic leaders also complained about The Blue Room, a Bellerose restaurant/bar where a vicious assault occurred outside the establishment in March that left the victim with brain damage.
Lucy and Bruno DeFranceschi of the North Bellerose Civic Association said the owner of the establishment had fallen $26,000 behind in rent but said the bar was letting in customers through the back door.
Kearney said The Blue Room was $20,000 to $30,000 in debt and that the establishment was on the list for a police operation crackdown on bars “very shortly.”
The Blue Room could not be reached for comment.
Glen Oaks Village President Bob Friedrich also warned the precinct about suspected drug activity on 249th Street with the alleged dealer operating out of a Glen Oaks Village garage.
He also reminded officers not to give summonses along the shuttered Q79 bus route on Little Neck Parkway, since the line has been eliminated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Friedrich said it may take a while for the agency to take down bus stop signs and motorists are allowed to park at the stops.
Kearney also awarded Cop of the Month honors to two officers for a May 17 gun arrest.
Detective John Caracci and Police Officer Steven Kiefer were patrolling an area with high drug activity when they noticed a man acting suspiciously in a deli on 111th Street and Springfield Boulevard at around 9:30 p.m. May 17, Kearney said.
The man took a firearm out of his pocket and placed it on the shelf of the deli when a second man approached the officers and a violent struggle ensued, he said.
The officers recovered a .357 caliber revolver loaded with armor-piercing bullets, Kearney said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
